ideas for homemade exercise equipment

I am just hatching an idea to build some equipment for my yard. The idea was at first just a pull up bar cemented into the ground, but I figured why stop there. Here's what I was thinking about so far. Any suggestions for additions appreciated ... also any links to existing designs. Thanks!

1) pull up bar
2) rings
3) pushup bars (though I could rig the rings to serve this function I suppose)
4) something to hang upside down on comfortably for abs
5) dip bars

You are missing the most important thing of all: a pair of squat stands :)

Something like that, or with the 4x4s firmly in cement on the ground or a large wooden base. You can make those 4x4s to stand 6-7ft tall off the ground with another 4x4 on top. That top can have metal pipes or dowels potruding off it for chin/pull ups or for hanging rings from them.

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

Teh has a shitload of ideas for you. Something to consider if you have room: look on craigslist or whatever for used jungle gyms. If you get lucky, a playground/schoolyard near you will be phasing out their old metal bar system for a less lawsuit friendly plastic-petro-chemical set.

You can do alot with steel gas pipe and all the cool fittings available. Plus you can disassemble stuff that's not working and change it.

A landscaping christy box/gate valve box is nice for box-jumping.

Sledgehammer, 20# for me, and an old tire is probably the best workout for us SAMBO-"tossers"

Also, IIRC, a beam holding a roof is constantly holding way over a ton. Check the crossfit forums; there are people putting over 400lbs on those things successfully. Obviously, one needs to be careful if the bases are just buckets of concrete (I'd fix those to 2"x12"x4' pieces of lumber to avoid tipping.) Put a pair of crawford saw horses (which combined can take like a ton, literally, if you drop it on them), and you are safe.

I'm actually in the process of building a pair of 6-7ft tall squat stands on wooden bases with a pole on top for chin/pull ups and wide bases to avoid tipping over. The stands are going to have holes through which I'll use 1" metal pipes reinforced with rebar for holding the bar as well as catch bars.

So far I have the bases (which will be further reinforced with two additional layers of 2" thick lumber in a mortice-and-tenon kind of way.)

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

Sledgehammer, 20# for me, and an old tire is probably the best workout for us SAMBO-"tossers"

The above two above can be combined with a large tractor tire , which you can then tie a rope to ... which can be then be tied to an old climbing harness for the infamous tire pull for a third use for the tire .

If it is too light throw a couple 20 lbs dumbbell inside the tire . Get low and sprint . Up hill , down hill , across grass , gravel , asphalt , concrete , dirt roads ... play with it until you find your own personal hell .

You can all thank my new boxing buddies for these hellish ideas .

“I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out.”
BILL HICKS,
1961-1994

Originally Posted by Jean Paula-Satire

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